On January 2, 2014 Jim Acton brought his 1956 Chevrolet BelAir 2dr down from the Port Charlotte area of, Florida to have Dave Hackney of Cape Coral and his web site WWW.CrusinSlideShows.com to take some pictures of Jim’s fabulous looking car. Dave chose Cape Harbour Marina and Weston Hotel in Cape Coral, FL for this shoot. I think the pictures them self will tell the story of Jim’s elaborate execution and undertaking of this now gorgeous looking Mirada Red with Orange & Green Pin Stripping on his 1956 Chevrolet. We all know what our readers want to know and I think now it would be proper to list many of the things that Jim has done to his car to make it his personal ride. Let’s start with the engine a Chevrolet ZZ4 350ci, and stock rated at around 350hp, but this Crate Motor has been tweaked and now puts out 425hp. Jim started with an Edelbrock Air Gap Aluminum Intake and then mounted two Edelbrock Thunder AVS 650cfm 4 Barrel Carburetors. He also added a 140 Amp Alternator, MSD Ignition, Turbo Exhaust, Performance Rods & a Custom (PRC) 3 Core Cross Flow Radiator w/Cooler & 2 Shrouded 10" Fans. A Chevy 700R Transmission w/overdrive sits behind that crate engine, with a 355 Posi-traction rear end, and Power 4 Wheel Disc Brakes mounted on all four corners. He then lowered the car using a 2" Dropped Front Spindle by HEIT & 2" Lowering Blocks in the Rear, all riding on a Set of Custom Boyd Coddington Wheels. Last, it has a custom made 25 gal Aluminum Gas Tank. Now that we have dealt with all that POWER and SUSPENSION let’s take a look at that beautiful tan leather interior. We start with Ultra tan Leather by Larry Sneed's Hot Rod and Interiors of Louisville Kentucky, which included a complete dash board, gauges, console, power windows, doors, brakes, air conditioning, and that great sounding stereo. The Shifter & Seats are from a Cadillac CTS which includes, the front 6 way power seats w/Lumbar, that seating taken from the CTS had to have 8 inches removed from the center section to make it fit into the car. With all custom made door panels, side panels, and a headliner without "bows", and this custom headliner theme was carried through into the trunk, which now holds the power antenna and stereo equipment. When it comes to Jim Acton’s ride the pictures will tell the story in spades.

The whole Corvette passion for me started, when my cousin Tommy Emhof, 8 years my senior, pull in my driveway in a 1960 Corvette. Get in! And along with my best friend Ricky Humphreys we took our 1st ride.

New ’57 Chevy blends iconic jet-age styling with Stroud’s latest suspension and a brutally powerful 800 horsepower big block to create an American hot rod that can rival the best sports cars from Germany and Italy.